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Indian-origin man who once worked as waiter at Friendly's now owns entire restaurant chain
Amol Kohli's vision now is to attract new Friendly's franchisees and reframe food service jobs as long-term careers.
An Indian-origin entrepreneur who once worked as a waiter at a US restaurant has now bought the entire company, marking a remarkable rise from employee to owner.
Amol Kohli, 37, began working at a Friendly’s outlet in Philadelphia in 2003 as a restless high school sophomore looking for pocket money. He earned about $5 an hour and juggled multiple roles, from cooking and dishwashing to busser and ice cream scooper, Kohli told CNBC Make It.
Now, two decades later, Kohli has added another title to his resume: Owner of Friendly’s. On July 22, his investment group, Legacy Brands International, acquired Friendly’s, along with its parent company Brix Holdings and six other restaurant chains, for an undisclosed amount. “This is one of the few (industries) in the entire world that you can literally start from that level and work your way up to a CEO or executive,” Kohli said.
From waiter to franchisor
The 37-year-old shared that he has spent most of his life working at Friendly’s in one way or another. Even while studying finance and marketing at Drexel University, he continued working at the restaurant during the summers, learning the nuts and bolts of the business.
“I started supporting a couple franchisees and just started learning what happens after the money makes its way into the register. Learning about insurance, payroll, food costs and all these other things. I did that all through college,” he recalled.
Then, after graduating with honours in 2011, Kohli chose a regional manager role at Friendly’s over a finance career. A few years later, he took over a closing franchise location with funds from savings, credit, and business partners. “That’s how my franchising career started. And from there, it just never stopped,” Kohli said.
He eventually franchised 31 Friendly’s locations before buying the brand outright. His company now also owns Clean Juice, Orange Leaf, Red Mango, Smoothie Factory + Kitchen, Souper Salad, and Humble Donut Co., overseeing more than 250 restaurant outlets across the US.
Challenges ahead
According to the outlet, Kohli’s path to owning his one-time employer started with plummeting sales at Friendly's during the Covid-19 pandemic. Friendly’s, once an 800-location chain, has shrunk to just over 100 restaurants today. It also filed for bankruptcy in 2020 before being acquired by Brix Holdings in 2021 for just under $2 million.
In May earlier this year, Kohli founded his own investment group, Legacy Brands International. The group’s sole purpose was to acquire Brix Holdings.
The creation of Legacy Brands International was the result of "a combination of a lot of stars aligning, the right people supporting, faith, and a lot of goodwill that all got cashed in at one time," he said. And his long track record with the company made him "the ideal candidate for ownership," Brix founder John Antioco said when the deal was announced.
The ascent from entry-level Friendly's employee to chairman of Brix's board of directors is "unbelievable," the 37-year-old said.
Now, Kohli acknowledges the challenge of reviving the struggling brand but sees opportunity in modernisation. His vision is to attract new franchisees and reframe food service jobs as long-term careers. “Some of the people on my executive team now were dishwashers and cooks,” he noted, pointing to his own journey as proof of what’s possible.
